PAUL POGBA PRODUCED an assured display as he made his second Manchester United debut in Friday’s 2-0 home win over Southampton following his world-record transfer from Juventus, though all the talk afterwards was about Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s double.
The France international, 23, earned the approval of the Old Trafford crowd with some elegant touches and came close to scoring on several occasions as he completed the full 90 minutes.
The rangy midfielder with the peroxide blond hair returned to United last week in a world-record 89 million pounds (105 million euros) transfer from Juventus.
Pogba, who had not played since France’s 1-0 loss to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final on July 10, played alongside Marouane Fellaini at the base of midfield in a 4-2-3-1 system.
He had only trained with his new team-mates for around 10 days and manager Jose Mourinho said before the game that he was not capable of producing a “super performance”.
Mourinho had warned supporters not to expect Pogba to “dribble five players and score a wonder goal” with his first touch.
The Frenchman’s first involvement indeed proved forgettable, an embarrassing air-kick gifting possession to Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but he quickly caught up with the pace of the game.
Pogba registered United’s first shot on target, which was comfortably saved by Fraser Forster, and his inventive pass to Juan Mata culminated in Ibrahimovic volleying wide.
After Ibrahimovic’s brace had put United 2-0 up, Pogba went close three times, heading over the bar from Mata’s 64th-minute corner and flashing a couple of shots wide.
He also proved an alert presence in defensive positions and drew roars of approval from the home fans midway through the second half by skilfully spinning away from two opponents in midfield.
Pogba left United in 2012 after failing to break into the first team under former manager Alex Ferguson, only to return last week after the most long-running transfer saga of the close season.
“It was like I’d just come back home,” Pogba said of his return. “It looks like I just went for a holiday.”
Four years, five months and one day had passed since his previous appearance for the club, as a second-half substitute in a 5-0 Premier League win at Wolverhampton Wanderers in March 2012.
A picture of Pogba in a red United shirt adorned the front of the match-day programme for the Southampton game.
Vendors outside the stadium were selling Pogba scarves, while several fans sported United shirts with ‘POGBA 6′ on the back.
As well as Pogba’s second debut, Friday’s game also represented a first competitive United home outing for Mourinho and new signings Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a second-half substitute.
Ibrahimovic put United ahead in the 36th minute with an imperious header from Wayne Rooney’s right-wing cross and added a second goal with a penalty early in the second half.
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This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone